Madeleine McCann - a few more things

Through business and personal relationships, I maintain a lot of contact with the UK and I am getting feedback that the grotesquely over-exposed, "Bring Maddie Home" campaign is beginning to bore both the public and the media.

Videos and photographs of the little girl released by the parents, who from day one have carefully manipulated public and media sympathy with staged photo opportunities and public appearances, have caused sympathy to wane - even to the extent that jokes are made about the poor child, who after all, is the most important person in all of this hoopla.

In other words, by their own actions, the McCanns have failed their daughter not once - but twice. Yet in many quarters, they are still being hailed as respectable, intelligent, caring parents.

I also get annoyed when I see statements in the British press such as, "debate rages..." in reference to the parents decision to leave three children under the age of four - with apparently four year old Maddie in charge - alone in a hotel in a strange environment. The word "debate" tells me there are people who actually believe the parents made the right decision.

I wonder what warped logic they use to defend the McCanns. Perhaps the one given by the parents of the girl apparently snatched from a hotel room when left alone - that thousands of other parents do it. It is a sick reflection on parenting skills that there has to be a debate on the rights and wrongs of this possibly deadly decision.

The McCanns are embarking on a grand tour of Europe and an audience with the Pope - the head of an organisation that since time immemorial, has turned a blind eye to child abuse and paedophilia within its own ranks (just the sort of person you would want to meet when your child is believed to have been snatched by a paedophile). What about their other children? One of Maddie's siblings was photographed holding a favourite toy of the missing girl. Are the parents dragging along the children who have so far managed to survive their parenting skills - two young children who are obviously aware their sister is missing - or are they leaving them in the care of others during the most traumatic time of their young lives?

Yet in some quarters, these two people are still being held in high esteem - some sort of parenting role model.

One thing is for certain, the trust fund they have established in Maddie's name will be better managed than their children. The same people who flock to put "Make poverty history" banners on blogs and buy tacky wristbands made in Chinese sweat shops, will flock to give money to show how caring and concerned they are.

Wouldn't it be nice if these same people wore, "Make parents like the McCanns history" wristbands? But that will never happen - the cause is not fashionable or chic enough.